The Gloomy Sub Male Lead Is My Boss - Chapter 1

“That’s not it. Sir, could you please take your hand off?”

“My apologies. But I truly wish to purchase this jewel. Please, grant me your generosity.”

“You two know each other, don’t you? Pretending you don’t?”

Cassiel stepped between them, his body angled protectively toward Adne, his expression fierce.

‘Why is he acting like this?’

Since this morning, her superior had seemed mad. Why was he suddenly so obsessed with her supposed secret affair?

‘Has he figured something out?’

There might be some hidden reason. She would have to watch him more carefully.

“Are you the one who had a secret tryst with my secretary last night?”

Adne covered her face with her hands when she saw Rachel’s dumbfounded look beneath his disguise.

“A tryst? How could you accuse me of that?”

“Accuse? A gentleman seizes a lady’s hand, and you expect me not to know? Adne!”

“…Yes?”

While she quietly slipped the jewel into her arms, the eyes of both men turned sharply toward her.

“Miss, I told you I would be buying that. I must have it, even if I pay more.”

“I’m sorry, but this item is essential for our captain as well… Truly, I apologize.”

Her eyes flicked nervously as she weighed her options, and in the end she chose to bolt. She spun around and dashed out of the jeweler’s with the jewel in hand.

“The payment will be handled by him! Our captain will pay!”

“Wait, what! That was mine! Hey!”

Adne silently offered an apology to Rachel, who stared after her in disbelief.

You’ll end up promising love to the heroine in the end.

But you’re not my master.

All you’ll gain is an empty crown.

In the end, the loneliness inside you will never be filled, even as the novel closes.

You will never be with the heroine.

Nor will happiness find you.

So just for a while—

Just for a fleeting moment, may you also taste the heroine’s affection.

Even if it’s only for that brief time, is it greed to wish it?

‘And if it is greed, so what.’

I’m already a traitor anyway.

So until I leave, I hope he can at least be happy.

* * *

“Are you really not involved with that man?”

“No, I’m not.”

Involved? He’s your brother, for heaven’s sake.

Anyway, now that she had secured what she came for, she felt relieved after resolving to create as many memories as possible for him with the young lady before she left.

They would never end up together, but at least there would be moments of happiness.

“Why are you humming like that? Do you have someone to meet tonight?”

She must have been humming without realizing it because she felt so lighthearted. Adne smiled softly and pulled the jewel she had practically stolen from inside her coat.

“Give this to the young lady first thing tomorrow. She’ll love it.”

“Who asked you that?”

“Asked me what? If I had someone to meet tonight? There’s no one. I can’t meet anyone until you show me the candidates for my lover. The weather’s so bright… oh.”

Adne’s face darkened abruptly as she glanced out the carriage window.

Following her gaze, the captain’s expression changed just the same.

* * *

“Captain!”

The sky had been perfectly clear only moments ago.

She didn’t know when it started, but now the rain was pouring down hard.

A dense mist covered everything, turning the world opaque.

After they reached the separate residence, she grew worried that the self-destructive madness of the Second Prince might begin. And in the middle of the night, he suddenly disappeared.

“Captain! My lord!”

She ran everywhere in a panic to find him. When she finally reached the lake, the damp scent of water and the sound of rushing waves eased her tension for a moment.

“My lord! You’ll catch a chill! Even if you feel unwell, can’t you do this in a bath instead?”

Wiping the rain from her clouded vision, Adne shouted until her throat hurt.

But the man diving deep in the vast lake didn’t seem to hear her voice.

‘Will this happen every time it rains?’

On the day his mother chose death, the one who first discovered her body was none other than her son, Cassiel.

And that day, the rain had poured relentlessly.

Perhaps because of that trauma, even when he was driven onto the battlefield, he could never keep his senses on rainy days and would wander in a daze.

[The blade of madness killed and killed and killed again. Soldiers of the enemy nation had no time to tremble in fear as they watched their comrades die in pools of blood, meeting death themselves. The vast earth was stained crimson, like a setting sun.]

Adne squeezed her eyes shut.

“My lord!”

Each time a ripple disturbed the quiet lake, she called for him, but his figure never surfaced.

“It’s so cold…”

Though only minutes passed, her lips, struck by the icy winter rain, lost their warmth and turned blue, her face growing pale.

But no matter how much she called, dragging him out of the lake, submerged in freezing water as if to hurt himself, seemed impossible.

After a short silence, she stepped into the lake under the falling rain.

When the water reached her chin, her body floated slowly beneath the surface.

It felt like her skin was being torn apart.

It hurt.

It hurt so much…

Her lungs ached from the lack of air, and the icy cold brought a pounding headache.

Still she kept descending, deeper and deeper into the lightless water.

Down, and down.

Thud.

Tight.

She found him lying still at the bottom of the deep lake, as though asleep, and gripped his arm with all her strength.

‘You’re not a child. You have to know how to let go of what you can’t change!’

Like trying to move an iron beam, he didn’t budge as she pulled again and again.

When he still wouldn’t move, she finally released his arm and swam down even farther toward him.

‘I’ll die first at this rate.’

She knew.

She knew the sub male lead of the novel wouldn’t die from something like this.

But still.

‘It means he’s hurting enough to want to die.’

So gentle. He never tormented anyone else. Never blamed anyone for his own pain.

All this time, he had been quietly hurting himself to death.

‘Please…’

Struggling, she braced his back and tried to push him upward. But with no ground beneath her, her thrashing seemed useless, and the man didn’t move an inch.

Just as she tried once more to push him toward the surface, Adne couldn’t hold her breath any longer and let it out.

She felt the damp taste of water on her tongue as her strength began to fade.

“My… lord…”

As her strength drained and her consciousness blurred, something hard seized her arm and yanked her forcefully into a solid embrace.

Held tight against a powerful chest, Adne felt the rush of water slide past her cheeks.

As the wetness soaking her body disappeared, cold air greeted her.

“Haaak… cough, cough, khh—!”

Splash.

The moment she surfaced, water poured from her mouth again and again, and the chill of the rain reminded her that she was still alive.

“Are you so desperate to die?”

“That’s why I told you to come out when I called. Ha… look at this. If I catch a cold, you’d better handle my sick leave—cough, cough.”

Clutching her sore throat and grumbling, Adne heard Cassiel suddenly laugh, the clear sound of it weaving into the rain’s melody.

When she looked up at him, Cassiel stretched an arm lazily behind him and met her gaze.

“Bold little thing.”

“You raised me that way, my lord.”

For some reason, that answer seemed to please him.

Cassiel, who only moments ago had been tormenting himself, now smiled as if none of it had happened.

* * *

Soaked like a drowned mouse, Adne washed and then sat on the sofa. Warm steam rose from her freshly bathed body, but the deep chill of the winter lakeside still gnawed at her, as if ice crystals were grinding inside her.

Uncomfortable and cold, she finally decided to change. She shed her nightclothes, dressed in the plain everyday clothes she wore at the annex, and walked the corridor to her captain’s door.

“Hmm, surely he’s not asleep yet.”

He must be tired. Maybe I should just go back.

She hesitated, but the cold in her core pushed her to knock softly.

When a voice from within gave permission, she opened the door and stepped inside—then stopped short in surprise.

“Heavens, my lord! Where’s the head maid? This room is freezing.”

Cassiel’s chamber was bitterly cold. The maids should have tended the fire to warm it, but knowing their master’s mood would be foul on a rainy night, they had stayed out of sight and neglected their duty.

She quickly lit the fireplace and, with practiced movements, lifted the kettle to make tea.

“Cold.”

“Of course you are. You’re lying here without even a blanket.”

She carefully pulled the covers over him where he lay motionless as if dead, then placed her hand on his forehead to check for fever.

But Cassiel’s naturally low body temperature made it hard to judge, so she awkwardly withdrew her hand.

“Do you have the strength for a cup of tea?”

“I feel like some toothless old man shut in a back room. It’s dreadful.”

“And whose fault is that, hmm?”

When the kettle began to whistle she turned off the flame and brewed the tea.

As she poured it into a cup, she felt his gaze linger on her, making her cheeks grow hot.

Why do I feel embarrassed?

Maybe it’s because I kissed him that night. Even this simple act of pouring tea made the fine hairs on her skin prickle.

“Here. Drink while it’s hot. Stay in bed and have it tonight.”

She placed the steaming cup on a tray and set it on the blanket. Leaning against the headboard, Cassiel sipped quietly.

Even with the window closed, the soft sound of rain seeped in.

Adne stole a glance at him.

He too had bathed; a faint floral scent clung to him. His damp hair was darker from the water, and in the dim room his golden hair looked like the pale, cold light of dawn.

“Adne.”

She flinched. Caught staring, she quickly turned her eyes back to her own cup like a guilty child.

But it had the opposite effect.

Perhaps because of the cool air, his voice slid into her ears lower than usual, sending a chill through her.

“I picked you up when you’d been thrown away.”

“……”

“You were abandoned. That makes me your master. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes. You are my master, my lord.”

“A beast never abandons its master.”

“……”

“I might cast you aside, but you must never cast me aside. Do you understand?”

At his words, Adne only bowed her head slowly.